Bait 'n' Beer

Begin rant.

I thought about this for two days before writing it. It will undoubtedly annoy some. I'm sorry.

On Friday, Publishers Weekly reported a story "Publishers Squeezing Booksellers on Credit" (www.publishersweekly.com/article/455978-Publishers_Squeezing_Booksellers_on_Credit.php).that had me fuming. The substance of the story is that publishers and distributors are pressing booksellers for timely payments, booksellers are complaining and the ABA has "set up a new subcommittee to work with publishers". Says ABA COO Len Vlahos, "Publishers are treating everyone as an identical risk."

So much wrong here.

Now before I start, let me confess two things. First, I absolutely love independent bookstores, shop them every chance I get (and would do so even more if the closest one weren't 45 minutes from my house), and generally think they're one of God's special gifts to humankind. I do not want to see them become obsolete or even more rare than they currently are.. Second, I've sold to (and tried to collect from) independent  bookstores for over ten years, first as a distributor (when I owned and ran Consortium) and more recently as a publisher (at The Taunton Press). To be polite, many are not famous for paying on time.

With that in mind, this story makes me want to bang my head against the wall not only as a stand-alone but also in the context of what has been a years-long concern I've had about what a good friend calls indies' "tin-cup marketing strategy". It also points out the ineffectiveness of the ABA in bringing real solutions to the very real problems all independent retailers face.

Even before Amazon's spectacular rise, many (not all) indie booksellers have taken what can only be described as a whiny approach in appealing to customers. We hear pitches like, "We're special so we deserve your support"'; "The competition is undercutting our prices"; and "Communities need independent bookstores". As much as I love you, you don't deserve or have a right to anything; you're not the only business facing price competition; and communities only need you if you make yourselves indispensable to your community.

And while you may feel like you "deserve" better credit terms than others and that your credit risk is somehow different from some other credit risk, it's just not true. Publishers and distributors already act as the bank with relatively generous terms and, in case you haven't noticed, you get to return anything you choose to at anytime for full credit forever. So spare me the whining about credit, which is an extension of the "were special so cut us some slack" tin-cup strategy.

The ABA has been an enabler in this ongoing sad tale by failing to come up with innovative programs to help provide meaningful business training and assistance for booksellers who need it and, more recently, in failing to consider actively a very thoughtful proposal from Jack McKeown (news.shelf-awareness.com/ar/theshelf/2009-11-05/a_solution_for_capital-starved_independent_bookstores.html) to actually help provide capital for stores with a serious and compelling business plan for growth and expansion. The sad part is that ABA  has a substantial endowment which could be put to good use in this way (and perhaps in providing lease financing for in-store POD machines) but which instead languishes in its portfolio of investments.

To be sure, there are many indies who never adopted the tin-cup strategy and have made (or are making) themselves indispensable to the communities they serve (and far beyond) by transforming themselves into real centers for readers, for community activites and for a great book browsing and buying experience. Go to Tattered Cover, WORD Brooklyn, McNally Jackson, Prairie Lights, Northshire, Vroman's, BookPeople, The Square, Books and Books, and dozens of others and you'll see funloving, knowledgeable  booksellers who are making things happen and keeping customers in the stores. Are they facing the same competition,  credit pressures and "unfairness" that their more whiny brethren are? Absolutely. But they've pulled their socks up and are doing something about it rather than hoping something will change or (worse) that some subcommittee in ABA's Tarrytown headquarters will solve their problems.

I love you, indie booksellers. Begging doesn't become you and you're too good to let external events control your destinies. Get busy yourselves and while you're at it kick your trade organization into action doing something that doesn't require a subcommittee.

End rant.